In brief

Products are a way to refer to the costs and expenses of a case that may or may not be billed to the customer. Products can be fixed fees, items sold to a customer (e.g. ad space, blueprints, or computer cables), or services such as seminars or training. Products are organized in the sales & financials section of a case. It’s worthwhile to take a few minutes to consider what your company sells. Defining products and services will help you construct categories, templates and price lists prior to starting a case. Once established, this information is readily accessible for input and in turn, saves time, prevents pricing errors in billing and lends to reporting accuracy.

Create product categories

Product categories are a way to group products and services based on common attributes. Categories can be based on the type of product, product location or which department provides a service. For example, if the product is ad space, the categories might be online, television, radio, magazine or newspaper.

To create a product category, click on settings in the top menu, and then click on product categories in the case section.

New categories are added to the list by typing the category name in the blank text field and clicking on the add button. The first category created is automatically recognized as the default category, and it will automatically be assigned to new products unless another category is selected. When there are more categories in the list, a different category can be chosen as the default by clicking on the corresponding use as default text on the right.

Existing categories can be edited by clicking on the edit icon . Categories can be disabled and deleted by clicking on disable and then clicking on the delete icon. Note that you can't delete product categories if there is even one product in this category.

Create product templates

Product templates are used as a guide for adding products to cases. Basic information about a product is provided which makes it faster, with less chance of errors, to add them to a case. In most cases, the template will be ready to use as is, but if necessary they can easily be edited within a case.

To create a product template, click on settings in the top menu, and then click on product in the case section.

Products are added to the list by typing the product name in the blank text field and clicking on the add button. The product details page will open, and information about the product such as the code, category, unit, cost and price can be entered. Click the save button to add the product to the products list.

Every time a product is added to a case or work hour entry form it’s counted. This information is found under associated with on the products page, and clicking on the number of cases a product is associated with opens a list of those cases for review.

Products in a case

The products section of a case is structured as an expense list to which products are added mainly for billing purposes, but also in an effort to track resources and expenses. Labor may or may not be included here depending on whether labor is charged on an hourly basis or as part of a fixed fee. Sales and services may also be included.

Click to open a case, and if necessary click on the arrow to the left of sales & financials to open it. Then, click on the arrow to the left of the products section to open it as well.

The products view opens to display a table that lists case expenses. At the top left, the show only options allow the user to sort the list so that only unbilled or billable items display in the table. The list has been started with billed and unbilled travel expenses. The travel expenses aren’t editable in this list, but are provided to keep track of their billing status in the case.

Products on the expense list that haven’t been billed yet have an edit icon . Click on the edit icon to open the product details view, and edit the fields as desired. The description or name can be changed. The quantity, unit (e.g. pcs, cm, days) and unit cost can be edited. A date can be added. And, unit price, tax and can be billed choices can be edited as well. Click save to enact changes, cancel to return to the expense list without changes, or delete to completely remove the product from the expense list in the products section of the case.

Once products in the expense list have been included on an invoice for billing, the edit icon will be replaced with the lock icon to indicate that the product has been billed and the user can no longer change product details. If the invoice hasn’t been sent to the customer yet, and is deleted, products on the expense list will again show the edit icon be considered unbilled and be available for editing.

Add products

In the products section of a case, locate the bottom row of the expense list and click to add a product name in the text field with the gray sample text, product, e.g. computer. If the spelling of the name matches that of a product in the product template list, a drop-down list will appear in which the user can click to insert the data from that template. Otherwise, in the subsequent text fields, add the quantity, unit (e.g. pcs, cm, days), unit price and unit cost. Click the add button, and the system will calculate the total price and total cost for items in the expense list. Product pricing here overwrites pricing in the pricing section, and on price lists and product templates.

New products entered on the expense list are quick to use because their details are defined on the spot, and added directly to a case. The information for these products isn’t retained for recurring use, like it is with product templates, but it’s included in search results and reports.

Add multiple products using product templates

In the products section of a case, click the gray add multiple products button in the bottom right corner. A new view will open with a list of all the products from the product template list in settings. The list of products can be limited according to product category by clicking on the words all categories, or its arrow to the right, and clicking to select a category from the drop-down menu.

Products are selected by entering a number in the corresponding qty (quantity) field to the left of a product name. Click in an empty qty field, and type how many times that product should be charged to the customer. Many products can be selected or just one. Click the add button to save products on the expense list in the products section. Once saved to the expense list, products added using a template can be edited, and otherwise handled, the same as new products added directly to the list.

Products in price lists

Products are associated with price lists so the user can quickly and easily switch between price lists that offer different pay rates, different prices or different currencies depending on the customer. Maintenance of price lists and pricing makes it easier for employees to enter information correctly and provides transparency for the customer on invoices.

Click on settings in the top menu, and click to open price lists in the middle column under organization. New price lists can be created by clicking to type a name in the empty text field, selecting the currency if applicable, and clicking the add button. Or existing price lists can be edited by clicking on the edit icon .

Creating a new price list will open a view that lists existing work types, travel expenses and products (from the product template list) with no pricing specified. Pricing should be determined and entered accordingly. Product pricing here overwrites pricing on the product template. Click on the save button to save all entries to the new price list, or cancel to return to the list of price lists with empty results in the new price list.

Products associated with a price list are found in the pricing section of a case. The default price list is normally inserted, but clicking edit pricing on the right of the section title bar opens the view to editing. Changes can be made to the default price list, simply typing new prices in the text fields. Or, predefined price lists created in settings can be inserted by clicking to select one from the drop-down menu found to the right of price list. Predefined price lists can also be edited. Or, selecting the custom price list allows the user to create a new price list using the previously selected price list as a template. Product pricing here overwrites pricing on the price list and product template in settings.

Products and work types delimited by case

In the work types & products section of a case, products are marked for inclusion on case work hour entry forms. On the lower half of the view, under case products, the box in front of default from settings is currently checked. This indicates that all products from the product templates in settings are available. Click to unmark this box; select all and every individual product become available for selection. Click to mark which products should be available for workers to add to the case on their work hour entry forms.

Add products on work hour entry form

Products can be added to a case on the work hour entry form. From new in the top menu, click on work hours. Click in the first text field to select a case from the drop-down menu. Click in the next text field, or on its arrow, to select the type of work, travel expense or product to associate with the case. If a product is selected, the product units will automatically appear behind the next text field, indicating that when a product is selected the quantity should be entered here. In the last text field a description can be entered if desired. Click the save or save and close the day button to add products, work hours or other expenses to the case.

Precedence in pricing

Pricing options are various and flexible to accommodate different users with different needs. As a result, there are many places where product pricing can be entered, and a pricing precedence has been established.

Top priority in product pricing goes to prices entered on the expense list in the products section of a case. If product pricing isn’t edited here it will reflect prices from the pricing section of a case.

Second priority in product pricing goes to prices entered in the pricing section of a case. If product pricing isn’t edited here it will reflect prices from the default price list as created in settings.

Third priority in product pricing goes to prices entered in the default price list as created in settings. If product pricing isn’t edited here it will reflect prices entered in the product template as created in settings.

Fourth priority in product pricing goes to prices entered in the product template as created in Settings.

Products in reports

Products sold in relation to cases can be researched and reported for example items report and invoice ros report. On the listings tab in reports, click on the word items in red at the top. Select criteria with which to filter the search, for example by case owner, and then double click or drag and drop to move result data between the available data and selected data columns. Click the gray search button to view results.

Products on Invoice

Products are listed on invoices in basically the same format as travel expenses or work hours. Products can be added and expenses can be edited by clicking on the edit icon located to the left of the description. Products added on the invoice will appear on the expense list in the products section of a case. It’s possible to edit product details such as name, qty, unit, price and tax on the invoice, however it’s important to note that this type of editing on the invoice won’t be reflected in the case.